The Hotel – 15

After Edwin left the room, I divvied us up to search for Tessa—Kirby and Jenn, me with Caitlin, Noah and Phil, Marsh and Ramsey. With Caitlin by my side, we went to the ballroom. It was immediately apparent that Tessa wasn't there, so we searched the dressing rooms and the bathroom between them. Nothing; and no sign Tessa had been there since we'd left after yesterday afternoon's rehearsal.

The same held true for everyone else, they said when we reconvened. "The cocktail lounge is vacant, of course, and so is the smaller lounge," Noah reported.

"What about the kitchen area?" I asked Marsh and Ramsey.

"The cook was not happy we were there, but she let us check the walk-in fridges," Ramsey replied. "She told us she'd been in and out of the pantry and would have seen Tessa, even if she was trying to hide, or had passed out or whatever."

"She even let me look under the pantry shelves, when I pushed the issue," Marsh added grimly. "No body, dead or alive."

"Do you think she's dead?" Jenn asked in dismay.

Marsh shrugged. "We can't dismiss the possibility, I'm afraid. I don't see her playing hide-and-seek with us."

"She's not that crazy," Kirby said.

Edwin joined us at that point, saying that Logan and Vern had done a thorough search of the hotel basement and found nothing to indicate Tessa had been down there. "Either on her own, or because someone forced her to go with them," he said.

"Who would do that?" Caitlin said, looking horrified.

"As Marsh said," I replied, "we can't dismiss the idea someone might have killed her for whatever reason." I resisted looking at Jenn, who was the only person in the troupe that might have wanted her dead—that I knew of.

"I'm going to call a couple of friends of mine who are trained searchers," Edwin told us at that point. "I'll give them free rein to go through the entire building as well as searching the area around it."

"You said you locked up and set the security last night," I pointed out. "How could she have left without your knowing?"

"I doubt she could have," Edwin replied, giving me a brief smile. "But it would be stupid to reject the possibility, right?"

"True."

He left, at which point I suggested we trying rehearsing, even though Tessa, who played Lucy, wouldn't be there. "Caitlin, you can stand in for her, if you don't mind."

"What if…?" Caitlin frowned.

"She doesn't return? We'll deal with that if it happens. Despite what we've been saying, I don’t think she's dead. She's either playing a vicious game for some reason—" I glanced at Jenn and Kirby, "—or she found some way to leave the hotel and is either lost or halfway back to the city by now."

Everyone looked dubious at the 'lost' idea, but nodded before we went into the ballroom. From there, the actors, including a very reluctant Caitlin, went to get into costume.